Novartis lifts profit forecast for second time on Cosentyx, Entresto

By Ludwig Burger

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Swiss drugmaker Novartis raised its 2024 earnings guidance for the second time on Thursday, driven by a gain in prescriptions for drugs including heart failure treatment Entresto and arthritis drug Cosentyx.

It said in a statement that full-year adjusted operating income is expected to grow by a "mid- to high teens" percentage, where it had previously seen a "low double-digit to mid-teens" percentage.

Second-quarter adjusted operating income gained 17% to $4.95 billion, beating an average analyst estimate of just over $4.6 billion.

Sales of Entresto, Kesimpta for multiple sclerosis and anti-inflammation drug Cosentyx, which has won approval for new uses, came in ahead of the market consensus.

The group, which has cut jobs and spun off generic-drugs business Sandoz, confirmed medium-term growth ambitions even as it is bracing for the loss of U.S. patent protection next year for its bestseller Entresto and for Promacta to treat a lack of blood platelets.

It has said it is banking on drugs like Kesimpta, which generated about $800 million in revenue last quarter, to reach $4 billion in annual sales.

Novartis has also billed cholesterol-lowering drug Leqvio, whose sales more than doubled to $182 million in the second quarter, as a multi-billion dollar revenue opportunity.

It reaffirmed a 5% annual currency-adjusted group sales growth target until 2028 on Thursday. (This story has been corrected to fix the figure to $800 million, not billion, in paragraph 6)

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger, editing by Miranda Murray and Sharon Singleton)